ISRO’s PSLV—C16 rocket today successfully launched into orbit the latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat—2 that would study and help manage natural resources along with two nano satellites. ISRO’s homegrown workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle placed in a ‘Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit’ Resourcesat-2, Youthsat and X-Sat about 18 minutes after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre launch pad here, 90 km from Chennai, at 10.12 am. “PSLV-C16 Resourcesat-2 mission is successful,” a jubilant Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced shortly after all the three satellites were hurled into space one after another 822 km above earth in a text book launch. The ISRO chief’s announcement was cheered by the battery of scientists at the mission control centre who heaved a sigh of relief as they were gripped by an added anxiety following two successive failures of GSLV missions last year.

Apart from carrying three sophisticated cameras, the satellite also carries additional equipment called AIS (Automatic Information System) from COMDEV, Canada, for the surveillance of ships in the VHF band to derive their position and speed, among others. "With the launch of Resourcesat-2, ISRO will have 10 remote sensing satellites in orbit- Resourcesat 1, TES, Cartosat 1, 2, 2A and 2B, IMS-1, RISAT-2, Oceansat-2," S. Satish, ISRO's director (Publications and Public Relations), said. With the largest civilian remote sensing satellite constellation in the world, India is a global leader earning a sizeable amount vending imageries in a variety of spatial resolutions, spectral bands and swaths.